1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to communication networks and more particularly to subscriber features for telephone networks including intelligent networks (IN), signaling system 7 (SS7) networks and wireless networks.
2. Related Art
There""s an old saying, xe2x80x9cIf you don""t like the weather, wait 10-minutes.xe2x80x9d This expression has been used to reflect the idea that weather conditions often change very quickly. Often the change is welcome. Sometimes, however, the change can have a dramatic effect on one""s ability to carry out planned activities or to reach an appointment on time. Moreover, it is very desirable to be aware of weather changes as they happen so that one may be properly dressed or prepared for it. For these reasons, many individuals have developed certain habits to monitor the weather carefully.
For example, some individuals build their morning schedule around the weather report on the local televisions news station. Other individuals, on the other hand, prefer to listen to radio stations that specialize in giving weather reports many times in a single hour. Yet others purchase radio sets that are built especially for receiving and playing weather information.
With the advent of the internet, some individuals make a habit out of turning on the computers and logging into the internet page of a weather information service organization. By way of example, certain well known periodicals carry a weather section that is continuously updated. Because weather conditions can change rapidly, however, severe weather conditions still manage to surprise us. When severe weather conditions form, it is often difficult to prepare for it in a timely manner. Many people, unfortunately, do not find out about the severe weather until they are caught up in it. Even if they had watched the weather reports in the morning, the morning reports can be obsolete and inaccurate by mid afternoon. Thus, there exists a need for a system to deliver severe weather reports to those people that are affected by it.
In addition to the need for knowing about severe weather as weather conditions rapidly change, many people also need to know about severe traffic conditions as they occur. In today""s age of long commutes from suburbia to downtown, the likelihood of a traffic mishap or auto breakdown creating huge traffic jams that dramatically add delay to one""s commute is too high. It is very desirable, therefore, to also find out whether there a xe2x80x9ctraffic jamxe2x80x9d exists on a traffic artery that one ordinarily uses to get to work. Traffic reports are a popular part of morning radio and television shows for this reason.
One problem with traffic reports, however, is that they often are not received on a timely basis. Once an individual finally hears a traffic report on the radio, for instance, it is often too late because that individual is already committed to taking the clogged artery and is already mired in the traffic jam. Using traffic reports for obtaining traffic information is hit or miss in terms of the information being delivered in a timely manner. Moreover, traffic jams are sometimes nearly an hour old before they are first reported on some radio or television stations. In some cases, traffic accidents have been cleared before the report of the traffic jam is broadcast over the airwaves.
The individual that is concerned with how sporadic changes in the weather or traffic conditions affect his or her ability to be at an appointment on time has a need for the timely delivery of critical weather and traffic information.
In addition, for those individuals that also typically wake up to an alarm every day, there exists a need for a more pleasant or effective system for waking sleeping individuals. Not only, for example, must an alarm clock be turned on, but also, one""s own alarm clock is not always available. For example, the frequent traveler must either transport an alarm clock with him or he must learn to use the hotel""s alarm clock. Additionally, he must rely on that clock functioning properly. Alternatively, he can request a wake up call from the hotel. The wake up calls that are received, however, typically are not very pleasant or personal. What is needed, therefore, is a system that more effectively and more pleasantly wakes people up.
What is needed, therefore, is a system which delivers weather information, delivers traffic information, and can also serve as a better wake up system that is flexible enough to provide the information needed to the individual at whatever location the individual may presently be found.
With the advent of the internet, of wireless networks, and of improved public switched telephone networks that are based around intelligent network architectures, it is becoming possible to create new services that transcend the different types of networks to create service concepts that reach across and through the various networks. A method and apparatus provide for providing subscriber alerts that warn the subscriber to severe weather and traffic conditions is provided wherein the subscriber may receive the alerts on a cellular phone, on a public switched telephone network phone (PSTN), on a pager, or by e-mail. If a defined weather condition is occurring or is about to occur in a defined zone, for example, or if a specified traffic condition is occurring on the defined traffic artery wherein the defined traffic artery is one that the subscriber normally takes to get to a destination on a routine basis, the subscriber receives alerts as specified in a subscriber profile stored within a server coupled to an intelligent network (IN) type of PSTN.
For example, the alert is generated if the traffic on a specified traffic artery falls below a certain speed. Finally, the inventive method and apparatus provide for wake up and reminder services that are generated to anyone of a list of destinations as specified by subscriber profile. For example, either a wake up or reminder call may be generated to the subscriber""s home telephone, to his or her cellular telephone, to a pager, or even to an e-mail account.
To create a system that may deliver these alerts in an effective manner, a combination of networks are coupled to provide the alerts. More specifically, a PSTN based server is coupled to communicate with a wireless network, the internet, and perhaps a pager network to deliver e-mail messages, pages, and telephone calls to the subscriber according to his or her subscriber profile. For those instances in which a page is being generated or a call is being generated either to a cellular phone or to a PSTN telephone, an auto dialer is used to establish the connection to the defined terminal.
Additionally, an integrated voice response system is used to play the specific messages or to generate the specific text messages on the cellular and landline PSTN telephones. In an alternate embodiment of the invention, the specific text messages may be generated either by an service control point or by an intelligent peripheral. Additionally, these networks are integrated and are coupled to communicate with a traffic warning system and with a weather warning system. A traffic warning system that comprises a traffic artery mapping system as well as a plurality of traffic sensors that are communicatively coupled to the traffic artery mapping system that is connected to the coupled networks.
In one embodiment of the invention of the traffic warning system, the traffic sensors include infrared and radar based speed-measuring devices. In other embodiments of the invention, the traffic sensors are passive devices that merely generate information about flow rates on given traffic arteries.
A weather warning system includes a weather mapping system that is communicatively coupled to a plurality of weather sensors and to the coupled networks. For example, Doppler Radar systems as well as satellite weather tracking radar systems are integrated into the weather mapping system to provide weather information thereto. The weather mapping system accordingly, monitors the sensor data to generate alerts when specified types of weather conditions occur. The weather mapping system also analyzes the data to determine the location of the specified weather condition and to predict a path route for the specified weather condition.
The weather condition, its location, and its predicted path route are all generated and produced to the service control point and/or the intelligent peripheral 112 of the public switched telephone network. The public switched telephone network devices, in turn, specifically analyzes the received alerts from the traffic warning system or from the weather warning system to determine whether any of the received alerts affect any subscribers of the critical information delivery subscriber features. Additionally, the PSTN, and more specifically a SCP or intelligent peripheral analyze a plurality of subscriber profiles to determine what subscribers are to be notified for the traffic or weather conditions specified in the alert(s).
In addition to received alerts that convey weather or traffic information, the invention includes generating alerts to a subscriber as a wake up or reminder service according to parameters defined by the subscriber. More specifically, a celebrity voice is used to deliver a select message at a specified time. The messages can be a standard wake up message, a reminder to check a calendar for a pending obligation, or even a quote from a famous play, skit, song or other public event. The mere event of receiving a select quote can be enough to remind the subscriber to check his or her calendar.